Yep. You got it. I’m in my local coffee shop in Harrisburg, NC studying. How lame. Not only is it Saturday, which is prime real estate for college football games, but it also absolutely gorgeous outside. Not quite the November weather I’m used to having in North Carolina, but I’m definitely not about to complain about it. My weather gadget here on my handy laptop says it is currently a balmy 63 degrees Fahrenheit – picture perfect!

I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: studying is about sacrifices. I don’t know how many gorgeous days I’ve missed because of studying, but today I’ll add one more to that growing tally. Let’s just hope the grade on my anatomy final matches my dedication!

Iced talled non-fat white mocha + iTunes + Anatomy = a fun filled afternoon!

One of my friends from home called me at 10pm last night begging me to go midnight shopping with her at Concord Mills, which is a mall just down the road from me. I’m not quite sure why, but I agreed and met her at her house around 11pm. Surprisingly enough, the parking lot wasn’t too full, but inside the mall was bursting at the seams. There were crazed mother and daughter shopping teams everywhere and everyone was running around like maniacs. My friend and I didn’t buy a single thing, but man was it fun to people watch!

Everyone needs a plan when sitting down for Thanksgiving dinner. Some people eat certain foods in a certain order, and others try mixing certain foods together. My plan this year was a little different than other years. Watching all the food being place around the dining room table, I came to a sudden realization: there was no way I was going to be able to eat everything I wanted. Naturally, in my mind I made a conscious decision to foolishly pile all my favorite foods on my steadily shrinking plate, paying no attention to how much I might actually be able to finish. As soon as the blessing was said and heads were raised, I dove into my meal. I tried to eat as much as I possibly could with as little breathing as possible so by the time I realized I was full, I would have already finished my meal.

Worst idea ever.

With about 3 bites of turkey and a  handful of green beans left, I had to call it quits. Although not at all proud of this outcome, I feel like it was a necessary outcome. So while I sit back and allow all of these 387423 calories to digest, I encourage you to not take my course of action as you sit down with your families and celebrate another wonderful American holiday.

Chocolate Strawberry Torte aka Heaven on Earth

Sorry to disappoint, but we don’t have any. I just thought the title was rather catchy

I will, however, walk you through my first day of Thanksgiving break. I began the day by sleeping in until 10am, which is considerably later than usually seeing as I have 8am classes this semester. After waking up, I slowly made it to the kitchen where I poured myself an overflowing bowl of honey nut Cheerios. I then sprawled out on the living room sofa and turned the television on. Over the course of the next 2 hours, I basically channeled surfed. Nothing too inspirational is on Wednesday mornings. As soon as the clock struck 12 noon, my accumulated sleep deprivation hit me like a brick wall and I barely made it to my bed in time before my entire body shut down and slept like a baby for the next 5 hours.

Around 5:15pm, my body steadily began regaining consciousness and I resumed my taxing position on the couch where I am currently typing this blog.

Later on I might do something crazy and go to the store to by some brownie mix. I don’t know though, I’m running a little low on energy after everything I had to do today…

It’s that time of year again: college basketball season is upon us! The air is crisper, the television’s are louder, and my hall is more rowdy. Men’s basketball at Gardner-Webb University always has a rather large turn out. For the bigger games, of course, we have an even larger fan section ready to go crazy at a moment’s notice. This season is especially exciting for our Runnin’ Bulldogs because we play large schools like UNC, Duke, and Penn State. Granted, these games are all away games, but I’m sure our Bulldogs will bring they’re “A” game.  Could you imagine Gardner-Webb traveling to Chapel Hill and beating the reigning national champs??

The game is scheduled Monday, Nov. 23rd at 7:30pm. Gardner-Webb vs. UNC. Be sure to catch it on tv!!

Many of you may have heard about the Leonid meteor shower that took place tonight.  Apparently they (whoever ‘they’ is…) said the best viewing window for the meteor shower was between the hours of 1-4am. Naturally, I had to check it out. My friend Luigi and I brewed a pot of coffee, grabbed a warm blanket, dressed as snug as we possibly could, and headed out to the GWU soccer complex to see the meteor’s fly.

Little to our knowledge, however, Gardner-Webb keeps an alarming amount of lights on during the night time.  However, since we were already awake and prepared for a celestial phenomenon, we decided to attempt watching the shower through the well lit sky. We laid out our blanket and prepared ourselves for the most remarkable meteor shower of our short lives. An hour and 3 meteor’s later, we chose to thaw our frozen bodies and head back inside.

Maybe it wasn’t dark enough in our small town, or perhaps the clouds covered a little too much of the sky, but whatever it was, it prevented us from the chance of a lifetime. It is now almost 3am and I am exhausted. Luigi and I are planning on going back out at 4, but we’ll see how that works out… sleep is sounds pretty good right now.

This is about the spot Luigi and I star gazed from.

Sunday’s at the Webb are by far my favorite days. Some people wake up early and head to one of the near by churches, while others use it to catch up on sleep and relax. The Caf always serves fried chicken on Sunday’s and they always have breakfast foods available too. I’m not a big fried chicken fan, but a blegium waffle is sure to get me up and going in no time.

I usually spend the afternoon catching up on homework and hanging out with friends. Since today is so pretty, I believe I might play some beach volleyball with some kids. Hopefully this week won’t be too busy with homework! A week from Tuesday, the whole campus gets to take off on Thanksgiving break, so everyone’s getting really excited about seeing their families!

This weekend was athletic mayhem. Friday night we had a home volleyball game and the women’s basketball team opened up against Houston. Earlier in the afternoon, the men’s soccer team battled against Winthrop University for the first round of the conference tournament. Although all 3 teams lost, it was a good effort from our Runnin’ Bulldogs.

On Saturday, the football team fought hard but fell to the Liberty Flames. The women’s volleyball team broke our losing streak by beating Winthrop. Later on in the evening, the men’s basketball team dominated Covenant College and gave the Dawg Pound an exciting preview into the season to come.

Jordan, Myself, and Hannah enjoying the football game.

Ever wake up one morning smiling and say, “man! What a great day to be alive!”

Well, I have those days a lot at Gardner-Webb. One of the most amazing things about this school is that it’s secretly surrounded by mountains. You can’t really see the mountains until the sun is rising or setting, and then sometimes if you look at just the right time, you can catch the sun caught on the edge of one of the mountains.

I thought I’d share a picture I took a couple weeks ago when I was walking to breakfast early one morning. It was about 7:00am and I was pretty mad I was awake, but once I saw this view between my dorm room and the caf I couldn’t help but smile!

How could you not love a campus like this??

Well ladies and gentlemen, my favorite time of year has sprung: Intramural Season!!! Granted, intramurals are happening year long, but THIS is my peak season. Football season has just ended (my team lost in the championship, sadly) and outdoor soccer and volleyball seasons are starting!

My outdoor soccer team is actually pretty good this year. We have a couple ex-soccer players on the team so we’re pretty legit. It’s co-ed which makes the competition that much more intense. Sadly, GW just isn’t big enough for club teams so if you’re not a college athlete, intramurals will have to suffice.

Lastly, I’m on 2 volleyball teams. One co-ed team and one women’s team. Last night, our co-ed fought a tough game but lost in 2 games and we won our womens game (only because the other team was a no show, haha) Nevertheless, it’s always fun to come out and compete with your friends!

Sadly, it’s kinda hard to get a picture of myself while playing but I took a picture of my best friend Annie playing in her volleyball game which was before mine!

Annie's the one in red - sorry so blurry!